Category: MiMedx NASDAQ:MDXG

On July 2, 2018 MiMedx announced the resignation of MiMedx CEO and Founder, Parker H. Petit, and the appointment of Mr. David Coles, a Managing Director of Alvarez & Marsal, as the company’s interim CEO.

The appointment of Mr. Coles follows MiMedx’s engagement of KPMG and King & Spalding, who we understand have been tasked with, among other things, conducting an independent internal investigation into MiMedx sales practices .

Viceroy understands that a key element of these internal investigations concerns MiMedx’s conduct with the United States Department of Veteran’s Affairs (DVA); specifically, the allegations of channel stuffing and the subsequent indictment of DVA physicians utilizing MiMedx products. These physicians are in the process of cooperating with the US Attorney General’s case in relation to the charges alleged in the criminal filings including receiving bribes and inducements, and over-use of MiMedx product within the VA.

Viceroy Research has been made aware of links between other Alvarez & Marsal and a cohort of individuals allegedly exercising undue influence over the DVA, colloquially referred to as the “Mar-a-Lago Crowd”.

Given the depth of investigations occurring at MiMedx relating to the company’s conduct with the DVA, Viceroy believe the appointment of Alvarez & Marsal represents an irremediable conflict of interest to MiMedx’s ongoing internal investigations, and to the investigations we understand are ongoing within the DVA and other federal regulatory entities.

We have addressed a separate letter to the Department of Justice and the DVA’s ethics committee outlining what we believe is a serious conflict of interest and undue influence within the DVA of several parties.Further, we believe that it is irresponsible that this group, when exposed by journalists, was saved from a congressional hearing by longtime friend of former MiMedx CEO Petit, Senator Jonny Isakson, who has benefited greatly from donations from MiMedx and Petit.

Enclosed is a brief report detailing our investigation into this matter. A more comprehensive report will be published post VA OIG approval. The PCAOB and Investigators has stated that “When an auditor is confronted with multiple indicators of problematic revenue recognition … he or she must get to the bottom of the relevant issues, including digging into management’s representations.” We stand ready to assist in this effort and sincerely appreciate your attention to this extremely important matter.

The fraud at MiMedx continues to unravel as the company announced it would have to restate more than half a decade’s worth of financials, doctors receiving bribes from MiMedx and that its short selling commentary cannot be relied upon. Viceroy have identified further issues with the company including:

The announcement of MiMedx’s international expansion was a sad attempt at distracting investors from the Company’s compliance updates.

In the UK, the technology commentary from the National Health Service (NHS) appears very skeptical as to the efficiency and economic viability of MiMedx’s EpiFix product compared to existing solutions. EpiFix has been available in the UK for 2 years as of January 2018, and the product was only stocked in 1 NHS facility.

Viceroy Research have begun contacting international regulators to present evidence.

A major stumbling block to regulatory approval, as indicated by UK regulators, is the lack of independent research into MiMedx products’ efficacy and significant difference between company funded/sponsored reports and limited independent patient data.

The study has no disclosures on compensation or relationships with MiMedx.

Istwan appears on multiple MiMedx studies sometimes as a MiMedx consultant and other times as an “independent”. We believe this obfuscation of relationships to the company is intentional and used by MiMedx to create an illusion of independence. MiMedx does not report payments to Doctors despite the legal requirements.

One of three individuals recently indicted for fraudulently accepting payments from MiMedx was also part of a clinical study into MiMedx products. The implication that MiMedx clinical research is directly influenced by the Company is likely to deter international approval altogether. More so for paying bribes to Doctors. MiMedx denied paying bribes or inducements in legal filings and illegal short selling commentary, but the Grand Jury disagrees.

MiMedx is in breach of federal procurement regulations (FAR/DFAR) due to the conditioning of settlement agreements and litigation settlements with former employees and whistleblowers on a requirement for withdrawal of complaints to, and prohibition of communication with, regulatory authorities. We have reported this to the relevant authorities and believe their findings will corroborate our own.

For further background on this issue, please refer to Viceroy’s MiMedx Greatest Hits report:

This is still a lengthy document however readers should be conscious that it is a combination of over 20 separate reports, which collectively is still small sample of the hoard of data Viceroy have provided to regulators.

When we began our investigation into MiMedx we were shocked by the sheer volume, brazenness, extent and historic precedence of the fraud being perpetrated by the company. MiMedx management has yet to acknowledge any wrongdoing, remaining unrepentant despite the existence of several federal investigations into the company.

We reiterate our opinion that due to the overwhelming nature and amount of evidence against the company we believe MiMedx is a robust fraud, entirely uninvestable, and worth $0.00.

We encourage any persons with further evidence of fraud within MiMedx’s operations to lodge an anonymous report with regulators through the following channel.

Alternatively, Viceroy are happy to take the heat on publishing more evidence of malpractice at MiMedx, which we will treat with the utmost level of confidentiality. You can reach us at viceroyresearch@gmail.com.

Discoveries by CTS Labs’ research into AMD flaws eliminate AMD’s competitive advantage in enterprise server segments and the company’s price competitiveness in retail aspects can no longer be justified.

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The company’s rhetoric is that this is a non-issue hinges on the non-argument that administrator access must be established in order to exploit the vulnerabilities identified by CTS. This is short-sighted as the surrounding statement that most hackers will not have the know-how to exploit these vulnerabilities.
CTS have recently released a video showing the exploitation of AMD’s vulnerabilities to completely circumvent Windows Credential Guard and obtain decrypted passwords. AMD management specifically highlighted Windows Credential Guard as a key obstacle to the execution of CTS Labs’ identified exploits.
The video can be viewed in full here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YQaWIWbzhI&feature=youtu.be
Viceroy believes the practice of giving AMD discretion as to when, if and how it reports its own vulnerabilities facilitates poor corporate disclosure and keeps stakeholders in the dark. This is not how free financial markets operate for a reason and is validated by the SEC’s most recent statement relating to cybersecurity flaws: we would similarly not give fraudulent companies the discretion as to if and when they inform their investors they are a fraud.

Ryzen and Epyc processors facilitate tremendous freedom of access to customer’s data –The identified vulnerabilities in AMD’s EPYC and Ryzen processors give hackers the ability to entrench malware at the hardware level, making them virtually undetectable and untouchable by security products. By abusing these vulnerabilities at the Secure Processor level, malware characteristics can give hackers unlimited control over entire networks. None of the vulnerabilities identified by CTS, both firmware and hardware, require physical access to computers to be exploited. The continued sale of these processors puts customers at significant risk.

The security protocols that AMD have been promoting put customers at unacceptable risk to vulnerabilities identified by CTS – We expect AMD cloud customers including Microsoft Azure, Baidu, DellEMC and TenCent will flee in the short term given the serious nature of chip flaws. AMD is unlikely to be trusted in this space again.

One Ryzen chip could endanger an entire enterprise network – Vulnerabilities identified in the Ryzen chip allow hackers to perform credential dumps on infected Ryzen workstations even if the latest security mitigations are employed. Malware can quickly spread to other workstations throughout enterprise networks, regardless of whether they use a Ryzen chip or Intel. No prudent CISO or CTO will risk their network or their security by buying a Ryzen chip over more secure competitors.

This report expands on the financial impact of the CTS Labs vulnerabilities, specifically the impact of future earnings and possible legal liabilities that Viceroy believes will arise against the company. Viceroy have appointed lawyers to assess the reliability of the security claims made by AMD considering the basic level flaws that have been identified.

Viceroy has obtained documents detailing a legal dispute between MiMedx and Mad River Community Hospital (“Mad River”). The documents clearly outline MiMedx’s fraudulent sales methods including misrepresenting reimbursement rates for products and “marketing the spread”.

This report details the serious misconduct and underhanded sales tactics of MiMedx personnel in California, which executive management were certainly aware of given the ensuing litigation. As we have demonstrated over 20+ reports, these types of improprieties are commonplace throughout the organization. Never before have our legal advisers or consultants come across such gross and serious misconduct.

The Mad River documents also show MiMedx engaged in “selling on reimbursement”, contrary to a several laws and regulations and some alleged MiMedx policies.

MiMedx sued Mad River for non-payment of invoices for EpiFix and AmnioFix products. Unfortunately for MiMedx this is where the story becomes compelling for law enforcement and regulators.

MiMedx misrepresented to Mad River the reimbursement rates for its EpiFix and AmnioFix products, as well as misrepresenting insurer’s attitudes towards these products. Several insurers considered MiMedx products “experimental and un-reimbursable”.

Following Mad River’s failure to pay, MiMedx sent “reimbursement” specialists to Mad River who upheld that MiMedx’s represented reimbursement rates were correct. Mad River believes that this was simply a manner of continuing the ruse while raising further invoices.

Contrary to Parker H. Petite’s rhetoric of “Good Business Acumen” and persistent denials of “marketing the spread”, this report will unlawful practices that MiMedx, including “marketing the spread”. This is the very tip of the iceberg that law enforcement and regulators have been made aware of.

It is Viceroy’s intention to continue the dialogue with MiMedx’s auditors and regulators to bring about the prosecution of Parker H. Petit.

In the wake of mounting evidence of fraud, illegal revenue recognition systems, retaliation against whistleblowers and concealing evidence from investors, we immediately call for Parker H. Petit’s resignation.

This post highlights the incriminating testimonies from MiMedx employees, associated entities and attorneys, which have subsequently been sealed by the company to conceal evidence from stakeholders.

The order to seal these documents came only after Viceroy’s highlighted that AvKare “didn’t do anything”, according to Mike Carlton (MiMedx VP of Global Sales), but only served to facilitate MiMedx’s channel stuffing & other suspicious activities. Parker H. Petit, knew investors would quickly realize he was misleading them – the information was incriminating MiMedx if left unsealed.

Parker H. Petit & MiMedx continuously attempt to sweep criminal actions and contradictory statements under the rug – in this instance, they sealed incriminating deposition transcripts. Fortunately, Viceroy had already obtained these records prior to the motion to seal bring filed with the court.